Exploration of Second Generation Hungarian American Identity Development Through Art and Personal Narratives

This paper was an exploration of second generation Hungarian American identity development seeking to augment the understanding we have regarding second generation immigration, and particularly that of the children of those Hungarians who left during the communist occupation or shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The research methodology used was a qualitative inquiry of semi-structured narrative interviews with an art-making component, from which emergent themes were identified. The five emergent overarching themes found were: The unique experience of being Second- Generation to immigrant parents, Hungarian American Identity, Misperceptions connected to being part of a white minority group, A closed system serves as a protective factor, and Art as a facilitator for expression and meaning making. These themes are examined against existent literature pertaining to the experience of second-generation Hungarian Americans, and discussed within the context of clinical applications and possible future research